The Worst Mistake
by AngstDeity
Summary: This takes place after the Bad Ending of Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. I might make this a lil "series" of some sort, but I have no idea yet. it's 10pm when Marta Lualdi realizes she has made the worst mistake of her life.


It's 10pm, the sun long gone from the distant horizon on the beach, when Marta Lualdi realizes she has made the worst mistake of her 20 years of living.

The long haired redhead stares, his cold hands cracked from callouses, with warm, pink tinted cheeks and cold lips. He typically presses forward with purpose, but since Marta so rarely sees confusion cross Richter's features- it scares her to see it now. Richter's brow furrows, his face crinkles, but he makes no sound, his lips only slightly parted.

"...wh-" he mutters, and Marta prays to Martel the ocean will whisk her away.

"I, uhm, uh-!" Marta panics, her gloved fingers giving way to frantic motions as vague snippets of speech come out of her mouth, attempting to speak but failing. "Uhm, I'm sorry- I didn't… uh, I didn't mean to- I didn't think- uhm, that was an accident! Haha… I, uh..." She looks at Richter, and never has she seen his green eyes look so cold. Not even when he tried to kill Ratatosk.

Under this intense, scalding stare, she retreats into herself momentarily.

"I'm so sorry." She speaks up again after a few moments of watching and waiting, and realizing Richter isn't going to respond. He's been left speechless, his eyes focused entirely on the long haired girl.

She takes a deep breath, moving to re-position herself, too weak to stand quite yet from the shock of her own actions.

"Are you okay?" The girl asks, her blue eyes moving to look at the redhead again, his green eyes still showing a glisten of confusion.

Richter blinks, and brings his finger to his lips for the briefest of seconds, before his brows furrow and he moves his green hues to Marta again. His focus is completely on her, finally.

Surprisingly, his gaze is somewhat warmer than usual.

"Are _you_ okay?" He regards the female in kind, and Marta thinks to herself he must be joking. But no, of course not, she realizes as his face softens more in concern, and he reaches to her. Marta allows it- endures Richter's touch, even though she doesn't deserve it, because if it's what Richter wants, then that's fine, and is what needs to happen, but-

"What? I'm fine. Totally fine!" Marta fakes a smile, one that she's been practicing ever since Emil- (she dares not finish that thought). She assumes it's believable.

"You're not." Richter states. It isn't.

His hand drops away from Marta's arm, and he folds his arms, his own gloved fingers hidden by his sleeves, and he folds in on himself a little- oh, oh no, she's really messed up. She has to leave.

"You're shaking." Richter points out, and Marta realizes that he's been staring at her entire body, and then that this all doesn't make sense, and-

"I'm just cold, that's all." Marta retorts, a bit sharply, strong and firm, because if there's one thing she's become good at since Emil's death, it was lying, even if it's to Richter-

"You're not." Richter replies, and if it's one thing Richter's good at, it's seeing through her fabrications, since he's been down the same road she has, lost people important to him as well.

"It's fine! I'm fine. Everything is fine. We can move on now, okay?" Marta says, and she tries to mean it, but Richter is still staring at her with those sad, warm green eyes, and, and… "I just remembered! I forgot to feed my snake, and I really need to do that right now, so I'm going to go now, okay Richter? I'll see you tomorrow!"

So she turns quickly, her long hair swaying with the wind as she makes her way to leave, and it's only once she's there that she realizes she's heading in the wrong direction, towards _the ocean_, of all things, and it's only when a strong hand pulls her back that she's realized Richter has properly snapped out of his confusion and back into reality, and it's only once they're both almost thigh-deep in water that she realizes she's a massive idiot.

Stupid! Stupid… Stupid idiot. She scolds herself mentally.

She looks at Richter, half-drenched, covered in sand and seafoam and his long red hair sticking to his face and she still thinks she's never seen someone quite so handsome.

"What are you doing?" Richter questions, his brows furrowing deeply with confusion and probably anger, and Marta is still scared and probably a bit hysterical… "Are you trying to _drown_ yourself?"

Marta thinks, for a very brief moment, that she'd gladly throw herself into the ocean for Richter.

Wow. She really_ is_ stupid.

Richter stands straight up, and Marta recognizes only once he grabs her arms that his gloves have fallen off in the water, his hands covered in sand and stones, and despite all that she feels his warmth, and it's all she's ever wanted by now, and..

"You just go and do that out of nowhere, and now you're acting so strangely, and you're shaking, your words are a mess, and you don't even own a snake, and you ran into _the ocean_, and-" Richter hisses out for air as he begins to run out of breath in the middle of yelling at this girl only 4 years younger than him- "What is _wrong_ with you?"

He stops briefly, taking a moment to breath and calm down as another wave washes into them.

"Tell me what you're thinking." He states this gently, his face red and his strength removed at this point. His voice has a gentle quality to it, the quality that she's only heard once, a few years ago, when they opened up to each other, let all their walls down and speak about how painful it was to lose the ones they loved with all their hearts.

To hear that voice now, compelled Marta to do exactly what he said.

"I think I'm in love with you, Richter." Marta says, and ruins everything she tried so hard to keep inside.

It's almost giggle-inducing to see the bud of surprise bloom in Richter's expression, his green eyes widening, and his mouth opening briefly before snapping shut again. As if it wasn't the most obvious thing in all of Aselia. As if Zelos didn't shoot filthy glares, as if Genis didn't mime being sick every time Marta so much as went _near_ Richter in the past year. As if it wasn't so easy to figure out. But Richter would have never guessed, would he have, if she just kept her paws to herself?

Nothing would have ever had to go wrong, but she blew everything.

"I love you too." Richter states, like it's simple, like it's been the answer from the start… but it's not like that. Not at all.

"Not like I love you." Marta says, calmer and ready to accept this. That this is simply the end.

"And how would you know?" Richter questions with a frown, squeezing hard at Marta's arms, so much it hurts.

"Because I kissed you, and I shouldn't have, and I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I know I shouldn't have, and I know you don't want that, so let's just-"

"Kiss me."

Marta doesn't believe the phrase she had heard, especially with the waves crashing into them. She just stares at the male, who stares back, as they don't respond for a bit to each other. Richter blinks, waiting for her response, but there's none coming.

"Kiss me." Richter repeats himself, standing straighter than before. Like his normal confidence has returned to him fully.

Marta blinks in confusion, her blue hues glancing away for a moment before turning back to him, "You want me to-?"

"Yes."

"But..."

There's another _swoosh_ as the waves crash into them again, harder this time, and Marta stops and stares. They're completely soaked, covered in sand and grit, and more than likely should get out of the water, because surely they'll catch a cold-

"Do you not want to kiss me?" Richter questions her, and Marta has never seen him look so beautiful.

"I do." Marta replies, standing on her tip-toes as she presses her soft lips against the other's, feeling at ease for a brief moment.

There's a lump in her throat as she pulls away, blushing, not sure if the red in Richter's cheeks is from the cold or the kiss, but she hopes, no, prays it's the latter, because, Martel… maybe…

"What… What now?" Marta lets out a soft breath, and the pink in her cheeks is definitely, absolutely from the kiss they both shared.

"Let's get dry," Richter responds quickly, but there's a slightly higher pitched cadence than usual, and Marta can only wonder and hope that they're feeling the same thing. "We're going to catch a cold otherwise."

They both stand straighter, clothes clinging to their skin as the sea water drips into the sand, and Marta thinks to herself how despite how disgusting it feels, she'd live this moment thousands of times. She begins to head to the left, but then-

"Can we go to your place to dry off?" Richter questions Marta, and she looks up curiously at him.

"Yeah," Marta states slowly, knowing her house is empty, and that's the exact reason Richter wants to go.

"We need to talk about some things." Richter states as they begin to walk.

"It doesn't have to be anything, Richter-" Marta starts, but Richter squeezes harder on her arm, and oh, when did he grab it -?

"I want it to be."

"Okay," Marta says, smiling gently at the taller male.

It really is the worst mistake she's ever made.


End file.
